Restless Mosaic
There’s Much Left to Explore
(2272972 Records DK)

It’s as if Seattle-based Restless Mosaic is releasing a steam valve, that odd piss-of-a-sound getting us into a roiling bass and snapping snare of the opener here, “Swelter.” I like the high-tuned percussion that we find a minute in (high-tuned percussion is something one often hears across this album) as the song moves along with some cool synth lines sailing in over the top. It’s a neat way to get us into There’s Much Left to Explore.

Brandon Isleib plays and produces here (he is Restless Mosaic), in the mold of a Gary Newman meets William Orbit, meets Brian Eno in the sensibilities I feel I’m feeling from listening to this full 10. The title track starts with a simple bass line, a mid-70’s Bowie/Eno key sound brushing under. It’s a very dramatic read and worthy of the album’s title.

It seems we have been working up to the full scaling of synth strings on “A Surrender Due in 2007,” with its backing arpeggiating keys, plodding bass, and marching snare, coming as it does nearly at the end of There’s Much Left to Explore. And the squeaks and bleeps of high metallic tones on “Tiles on the Tiles,” which leads to a full-stop prog-rock keyboard wailing flow wonderfully to the last tune, the expansive, terrain-filling key’s drama of “The Rock Face of Sholauren.”

Restless Mosaic pretty much presents a restless mosaic of instrumental gems on the wonderfully rich There’s Much Left to Explore.